Today In Wrestling History- August 26th

2002 – on Raw, the WWE Undisputed Title is separated into the WWE & World Heavyweight Titles once more. The WWE Title would stay with Brock Lesnar on Smackdown, while the World Heavyweight Title would remain vacant on Raw for now

2008 – John Cena underwent neck surgery in Pittsburgh, & shocked the WWE crew taping TV there by coming right to the Smackdown/ECW taping after surgery to visit

2008 – B. Brian Blair defeated his primary opponent with approximately 64% of the votes in a primary election for County Commissioner in Hillsborough County in Tampa, FL

2011 – TNA Knockout Cookie (Becky Bayless) was released by the company

Events

In 1991, WWF Summerslam was held at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, New York. With an attendance of 20,000. It featured the ‘wedding’ of Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth (in reality they had already been married around 7 years). The event also marked the final appearances of Sgt Slaughter’s Iraqi sympathiser gimmick:

2002 – on Raw, Rob Van Dam defeated Tommy Dreamer to unify the WWE Intercontinental and Hardcore Titles. The Hardcore Title is discontinued

Birthdays

Happy birthday to 2-time TNA X-Division Champion Petey Williams (33)

Also, today would have been the birthday of former WCW and ECW wrestler Bobby Duncum Jr. (49)

In Memoriam

In 2011, Donna Christanello, who was a top flight performer in The Fabulous Moolah’s troupe of female pro wrestlers and worked for WWF as well as number of other promotions, passed away. Christanello was found at home in Pittsburgh, PA, & it’s believed that the cause of death was a heart attack. She was 69 years old